Geokge albert lyojst



G. A. LYUN.

AlHOMOBILE BUFFER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28, 1917.

1,325,727, Patented D00; 23, 1912}.

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butters particularly adapted for use on the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMOBILE-BUFFER.

Application filed April 28 1917.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, GEORGE ALBERT LYON, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating to l-kutomobileBuffers, of which the following is a specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which forms part of the same.

This invention relates to resilient strip rear of automobiles and arranged for connection with the rear springs thereof, for instance. The buffer may comprise a pair of vertically rigid horizontally yielding menr bers or strips of tempered spring steel having their impact receiving portions arranged so as to overlap and form a doubled reinforcement at this part of the buffer so that the buffer is readily adJuSted to suit aut0- mobiles having springs located at different distances apart. These impact receiving members are furthermore preferably connected by yieldable or frictionally gripping clips or connecting means so that under collision conditions these parts are allowed some relative lateral movement and undesirable lateral straining of the vehicle springs may thus be minimized in this way and also by the looped ends given to the resilient buffer members.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way an illustrative embodiment of this invention-- Figure 1 is a plan view of the buffer as applied to the rear springs of an automobile. Fig. 2 1s a transverse sectlonal View thereof taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective, View showing the attaching portion of the buffer; and

Fig. & shows a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line H of Fig. 1 to show the connecting clip construc tion.

The buffer may comprise two substantially similar tempered spring steel strips Which may be rendered vertically rigid while horizontally yielding in a resilient manner by making the strips of many times greater vertical width than thickness as indicated in Fig. :41. Each of these strips, which may be a quarter to three eights of an inch thick and one and three-quarters to two and onequarter inches wide, for instance, may have Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 23, 1919.

Serial No 165,092.

a substantially straight impact receiving portion 3, 9, which are preferably adj ustably connected to form doubled reinforcing impact receiving members so as to increase the strength of this central part of the buffer.

clip together and tighten the inclosed members in two directions. This also makes it possible to adjust the bufier to fit automobiles having their springs or other supporting memberswith which the buffer cooperates located at different distances apart which is, of course, desirable, since a single style of buffer will thus fit practically any width of automobile.

Each of the buffer strips is preferably formed with an intermediate open loop portion preferably extending outward far enough to protect the wheels and mud guards and to increase the resilient yielding action of the buffer in a horizontal direction under impact and this loop portion of the strip may comprise the part 22 curved outwardly and toward the automobile, that is, outwardly and forwardly curved in the case of a rear buffer and merging into the open loop end 10 and the forwardl and inwardly ex tending portion '23 which connects with the attaching portion 17 of the buffer strip which is preferably integral with the other parts thereof. This attaching portion is preferably arranged substantially parallel to the center line of the impact portion of the buffer strip, although it may, of course, be angularl arranged or tilted in a vertical plane extending longitudinally of the vehicle so that it properly cooperates with the curved springs or other parts to which it is to be connected. it is highly desirable where this attaching portion is to be clamped or otherwise secured to the rear springs to provide it with some suitable concaved bridging clamping member such as the integral clamping member or surface 4 adapted to engage the springs at two separated points or lines and thus secure more rigid and strong bearing in connection therewith. As indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 where each of the attaching portions engages a rear single leaf of one of the three-quarter elliptic rear springs 2 of the automobile, the concaved clamping surface 4: is preferably given a somewhat more curved contour than the spring at this point so as to engage the spring at the two separated edges 18, 19 of the spring steel attaching portion and be readily clamped thereto so as to rigidly support the bufier in desired position. This may be conveniently effected by any suitable clamping device, such, for instance, as the attaching U-bolt 5 having the threaded ends 8 extending, for instance, through the holes 20, 21 punched through or otherwise formed in the attaching portion of the buffer strips and clamping them to the rear springs when the nuts 6, 7 are tightened sufficiently. These U-bolts may be wide enough to accommodate the ordinary widths of such rear springs so that the entire butter is a standard construction adapted to fit any automobile of the same general weight. In this way also the buffer may have its vertical angle adjusted so as to bring it into horizontal position by adjusting its point of attachment up or down the curved rear springs as desired. This is decidedly advantageous with many forms of rear buffers and is furthermore desirable because a firm and reliable connection is thus secured and creeping displacement minimized because each of the attaching devices securely engages a single spring leaf or member. This method of mounting is not only extremely convenient but sufficiently strong and rigid for such service, especially since the attaching portions of the buffer strips may be brought relatively close to, that is, within six or eight inches or less, if desired, of the impact receiving portions thereof, so that the bending moment exerted by the projecting parts of the buffer on the attaching portions is not excessive under running conditions.

This invention has been described in connection with an illustrative embodiment having various illustrative forms, proportions, parts, arrangements, materials, methods of connection and use, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

"1. In rear automobile bufi'ers, a buffer formed of spring steel strip having greater vertical width than thickness while resiliently yielding in horizontal directions, said bufi'er having attaching portions substantially in line and extending toward each other from the end portions of the buffer and each provided with a bridging clamping member, an automobile having elliptical rear springs provided with substantially vertical portions with which said bridging clamping members cooperate and U-bolt attaching clamping devices frictionally clamping said bridging clamping members to the substantially vertical portions of said car springs and rendering the attaching portions of the buffer vertically adjustable thereon to adjust the vertical angle of the rearwardly extending portion of the buffer.

2. The automobile bufier adapted to be attached to the springs of an automobile, consisting of two spring steel strips having greater vertical width than thickness to render them relatively rigid vertically while resiliently yielding in horizontal directions,

each of said strips having an impact receiving portion, an attaching portion substantially parallel and relatively close thereto and having an intermediate loop portion, attaching clamping devices adapted to clamp said attaching portions of the buffer strips I to the springs of an automobile and connecting means clamping said impact receiving portions together to form reinforcing impact receiving members at the central part of the buffer.

3. In rear automobile buffers, a butter having separated attaching portions substantially alined with each other and each provided with a bridging clamping member, an automobile having elliptical rear springs provided with substantially vertical portions with which said bridging clamping members cooperate and attaching clamping devices frictionally clamping said bridging clamping members to the substantially vertical portions of said rear springs and rendering the attaching portions of the buffer vertically adjustable thereon to adjust the vertical angle of the rearwardly extending portion of the butter;

4. In rear automobile bufi'ers, a buffer having a resilient impact receiving portion and integral attaching portions formed with bridging clamping members which are nearer together than the ends of the butter, and attaching devices cooperating with said bridging clamping members and adapted to secure them to the substantially vertical portions of the rear springs of an automobile to support thereon the rearwardly extending impact receiving portion of the buffer.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON.

Witnesses:

HARRY L. DUNCAN, Jnssm B. KAY. 

